Motorola launches Xoom tablet with Android 3.0

Motorola finally unveiled its highly anticipated tablet, the Xoom, with a 10.1-inch touchscreen with the latest version of Google's Android mobile software on board, formerly called Honeycomb.

Google worked with Motorola and chip maker Nvidia on the launch of Android 3.0 on a tablet device.

Android 3.0 is designed for tablets, not smartphones as Android was originally designed for. The Nvidia Tegra 2 dual core processor on board can deliver up to 2GHz of power, since each core runs at 1GHz, according to a joint news release from Motorola and Verizon. The tablet will be available for Verizon users.

The Motorola Xoom will launch as a 3G/Wi-Fi device by the end of March, with an upgrade to 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) in the second quarter, Motorola said. Starting in the second quarter, the Xoom will be available as a 4G LTE/ Wi-Fi device.

Motorola wasn't the first company to announce an Android tablet with Honeycomb at CES. Asustek Computer on Tuesday revealed the Eee Pad Slider. The Slider sports a 10.1-inch touchscreen with a keypad that slides out, similar to mobile phones with sliding keyboards, for laptop-like typing. The device also boasts an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor for strong graphics performance and has dual cameras on board.

CES officially opens on Thursday, with as many as 100 new tablets on display.

Motorola will have the first Android Honeycomb tablet on the market. Asustek's, for example, won't be out until May, the company said.

Motorola's Xoom hosts a number of upgraded specifications that could see the device carry a hefty price tag. Motorola did not announce pricing.

It has two digital cameras on board: A front-facing 2.0-megapixel camera acts as a webcam for video chat, and a 5.0-megapixel camera on back is for photos and 720p high-definition video capture.

The touchscreen has a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels, compared with the iPad's 1024 by 768 and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab, at 1024 by 600.

Users will be able to watch 1080p HD video on the Xoom and output HD video to other devices via an HDMI slot. Adobe's Flash Player is also on board the Xoom, making it good for viewing Web video.

The Xoom measures 249.1 millimeters by 167.8mm and is 12.9mm thick. By way of comparison, the iPad is 13.4mm thick and the Galaxy Tab is 11.98mm thick. At 730 grams, the Xoom weighs the same as the iPad with 3G and Wi-Fi.

Google's Android software has caught up quickly with Apple's iOS, which runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Market researcher Ovum expects Android and Apple's iOS to take about 71% of the total market for tablets and other mobile Internet devices by 2015, while the also-rans -- the BlackBerry tablet OS, Hewlett-Packard's WebOS, Intel's and Nokia's MeeGo, and Microsoft Windows -- make up the rest.

The Xoom is designed to work with Google services, including the new 5.0 version of Google Maps with 3D interaction, as well as with the 3 million Google eBooks and thousands of apps on Android Market. The Xoom includes a built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, and accelerometer, as well as adaptive lighting for different apps.

The tablet has 32GB of storage on board and can be upgraded via an SD card slot. It has 1GB of DDR2 DRAM.

Motorola Xoom Android tablet may be first iPad killer

By Wilson Rothman

Though there have been tablets running Android on the market since last year, the Motorola Xoom, debuted today at CES in Las Vegas for the very first time, represents the first real Android tablet sanctioned by Google, running an operating system designed explicitly for tablets. Forget the Samsung Galaxy Tab, forget it completely. This is Google's first attempt to take on the iPad, and it's a worthy one.

The device has a 10-inch widescreen display and is actually a hair thinner than an iPad: Xoom measures 12.9mm at the middle while the iPad measures 13.4 mm. It's a smooth black on black with a rubberized rear. It has two cameras, one in front for videoconferencing, one in back for shooting. Battery life is about 10 hours for video, which should put it in the same company as the iPad. Meanwhile, its 1280x800 display is 16:10, which means it uses almost the entire screen when playing a movie.

One interesting difference between the Xoom and the iPad: The docking port is on the bottom, so it will sit in landscape view, not in portrait view, the way the iPad does. I actually think that's the smarter orientation, at least for movie watching. Here are the full specs:

It will debut on Verizon's 3G network, but will be "capable of being upgraded to 4G," though there's no exact date or pricing just yet.

In a preview video, they zipped through many screens of Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb, the Google tablet OS. Highlights include a powerful multi-tab full-screen Chrome browser with Adobe Flash support (unlike the iPad), a full-screen Gmail with a sleek modern look and lots of space for previewing emails, and a Google Books app that lets you swipe through your books. (That last gesture was a little too much like the "Cover Flow" of album covers, found on many an Apple product, but we'll let it go for now.)

We've gotten to look it over pretty closely, but the demo models weren't exactly operational, so there's nothing to say about the feel of the interface. The look from the demo videos told me two things, however: First, this is not a blown-up Android phone experience, like the Galaxy Tab. This is a whole new environment. Second, there's a lot of Chrome DNA in here, too. I believe the Chrome tabbed browsing experience will be a key part of the Honeycomb life.

As promising as it is, I will withhold judgment for now. No matter how awesome it is, it's only going to be as good as the developers who get on board and create awesome apps for it. The iPad is a vessel for great development. I think this can be, too, but only if Google encourages it. Building their own awesome apps for the Xoom is fine, but Google needs to somehow get others to follow suit. That is the trick.

Haven't had enough? Then you, my friend, should step on over to our Motorola Xoom video walkthrough.

Photos by Matthew Rivera, except top shot from Motorola

ALSO: official Motorola Xoom promo page

Wilson is in Las Vegas all week covering the Consumer Electronics Show, culminating in a live one-hour streaming video show on Friday, co-hosted by XM Radio personality and tech commentator Mario Armstrong. For updates on all the tech news that's actually relevant to you, be sure to check technolog.msnbc.com. And don't forget to follow Wilson on Twitter, and shoot him any questions you might have about the massive barge of tech news currently headed our way.